The Sufficiency of Scripture

As I have said before, the primary purpose of this blog is to simply communicate what God has been/is teaching me in my own life and study. For some time now I have been intrigued by the idea of "the will of God." So, this semester I decided to look into the subject a bit. My plan for this week(and next if necessary) is to take a few days to write about what God has taught me about His will. Although I do not claim to have a full understanding of the subject I do believe I understand it much better than I have in the past and may have some good insight to provide.

But first, I feel the need to stress some background and foundational ideas - primarily, the sufficiency of Scripture. Now I will assume that anyone reading this would not dispute such qualities of Scripture as its authority, inerrancy, infallibility, and inspiration by God. These are basics of the Christian faith which I hope you hold to without dispute(If not, here are some good resources on the subject: Westminster Confession(Chapter I), Monergism directory of theology). But, in spite of these truths about Scripture, I feel many Christians today are not fully convinced of the Sufficiency of Scripture. The primary text to support this wonderful truth is one which you are no doubt familiar with:

16 All Scripture is breathed out by [given by inspiration of] God and profitable for teaching(doctrine), for reproof, for correction, and for training(instruction) in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent(complete),[thoroughly] equipped for every good work.
-2 Timothy 3:16, 17 ESV, parenthesis added

In these two short verses are packed many truths about Scripture in which we can rejoice.
First of all, we see that all Scripture is given to us directly by God. Paul here uses the word theopneustos - from the Greek words for God(theos) and breath(pneo) - literally meaning "God breathed." In other words, Scripture is God's direct words given to us straight from God's "mouth".
Second, Paul explains what Scripture provides for us:
1. Teaching
2. Reproof
3. Correction
4. Training in righteousness
Finally, we see that the outcome of these things is so that we can be "complete" and "equipped for every good work" - i.e., to know how to live right(righteous) lives(lives in God's Will). This is where the "training in righteousness" comes in. Although Scripture does not explicitly cover every possible moral issue one may face in life, it provides principles which can(must) be applied to every situation in order to direct us in our decision making.
So, from this text we can see that Scripture is the ultimate authority in a Christian's life and that it provides us with all we need to know in order to live God-pleasing lives(lives in God's Will).